Latest Episode

**Warning - this episode contains lots of tears**
For the final episode of Pop Rocket, the panel convene to give listeners one last All About, one last Jam, and they look back at the past four and a half years, and all the various milestones they’ve shared with one another and their listeners while doing the show--marriages, deaths, birth, book deals, finding a new home, and so many other memories. It’s raw. It’s wonderful. In addition, we’ll hear phone calls from listeners and friends of the show about what Pop Rocket meant to them. Plus, Guy shares the best abortion joke he’s ever heard.
Lastly, Wynter and Karen reveal their new, upcoming podcast, and how you can stay in touch with them beyond Pop Rocket. Show notes

Roy Wood Jr. is a comedian. You've probably seen him as a correspondent on "The Daily Show." He's done comedy pretty much his entire life, but he majored in broadcast journalism and for a while, it was looking like that was gonna be his career. He was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama and first got his start in radio, working at a handful of stations. Sometimes he wrote, sometimes he produced or reported, but at heart, Roy has always been a stand-up, doing his act whenever he found the time.

In 2010, he finished third on NBC's "Last Comic Standing," which is when his career took off - he got his own radio show, got acting roles, started getting booked in bigger venues. Last year, Roy released his stand-up comedy album called "Father Figure," which made it on to many top 10 lists. He also just kicked off a national tour that will continue over the rest of spring and summer.

Roy talks with Jesse about the difficulty of writing original jokes, gang colors, and how being on "The Daily Show" has given him an opportunity to share some of his bolder takes on politics and race.

Peter Serafinowicz is a British actor and comedian with a varied career in entertainment. He's been on a bunch of British TV shows - "Spaced," "I'm Alan Partridge," and "The IT Crowd." He did voice work as Darth Maul in "The Phantom Menace." He's also a music video director, a brilliant impressionist, and a screenwriter. Together with Robert Popper, he created the comedy series "Look Around You"- a parody of those boring educational documentaries kids watch in school.

Now, he's got a lead role. He's starring in the Amazon series "The Tick" as the Tick. It's a new live-action superhero comedy about a giant muscle man in a blue suit with antennas on his head. He's got super strength. It's almost impossible to hurt him, but he's kind of dumb and bumbling, too. His sidekick, an accountant named Arthur, is the only one who can really keep him grounded.

Peter talks to Jesse about writing dialogue that is essentially meaningful but sounds nonsensical and the most important lessons he learned from great impressionists like Mike Myers and Phil Hartman.

The first season of "The Tick" is available to stream now on Amazon. It just got picked up for a second, which should premiere next year.

If you ever found yourself falling in love with a team because of their goofy logo, Uni Watch is the blog for you. It's a whole website dedicated to all things sports uniforms and where the intersection of athletics and aesthetic is big news.

Stephanie Beatriz on Brooklyn Nine-Nine and taking the lead in The Light of the Moon

For five seasons, Stephanie Beatriz has starred on the hit fox show Brooklyn Nine Nine. It's for real one of our favorites, everyone's great in it - Terry Crews, Andy Samberg, Chelsea Peretti. Stephanie plays Detective Rosa Diaz. And Rosa is easily the toughest cop in the precinct - she's brave, she's serious, she rides a motorcycle.

Now, Stephanie is starring in a brand new movie. It's called The Light of The Moon. In it, Stephanie plays Bonnie, a young woman living in Brooklyn with her boyfriend. Towards the beginning of the film she goes through a vicious sexual assault. And from there, the movie tells the story of the aftermath of that event - its effect on her work life, her relationships… even little stuff - like whether or not she wears headphones when she's walking off the subway. It's a little brutal to watch, but it's also nuanced, realistic and really touching.

Stephanie's talks with Jesse about all that and more from NPR's studios in New York.

A quick warning - the second half of this interview contains some honest and frank talk about sexual assault and the trauma dealing with it.

Griffin Dunne is mainly an actor. Recently he starred alongside Kathryn Hahn in the Amazon series I Love Dick. He was also in the Dallas Buyers Club, an American Werewolf in London, and in the 1985 Scorsese classic After Hours.

He's also a director - and just released his first ever documentary. It's a biography of his aunt, Joan Didion, one of the most critically acclaimed contemporary writers.

Didion rose to fame for her journalism - she immersed herself in stories. In the late 60s, she broke through with Slouching Towards Bethlehem. In her career she covered a bunch of different stuff - the counter culture, war, immigration. She also wrote a handful of novels, a couple memoirs.

She's lead a fascinating life, but until now, there hadn't been a documentary about her. She's pretty private - doesn't give a lot of interviews, either.

The film is called Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold, and it's available on Netflix now. Dunne gives us an intimate look at one of the most compelling thinkers alive. It talks about her impact on journalism, her works of fiction too. Dunne also focuses a lot on one of the biggest tragedies to strike Didion's life: in 2003, her husband John Dunne died of a heart attack. Not long after that she also lost daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne.